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Guarded Pals in a Critical TV Rivalry

“Welcome to 8,” read the Twitter message from Dan Harmon, an executive producer of “Community,” to Bill Prady, his counterpart on “The Big Bang Theory.”

It was May 19, and CBS had just made the biggest television scheduling move of the season, shifting the hugely popular sitcom “Big Bang” to Thursday nights at 8, a particularly lucrative time slot for the networks. Mr. Harmon was being neighborly, like a homeowner welcoming a newcomer with a fruit basket while fretting about his sure-to-be-falling property values. It felt as if a Terminator were being sent to destroy his year-old, critically acclaimed NBC sitcom, Mr. Harmon jokingly added.

An hour later Mr. Harmon electronically greeted an executive producer of the new series “My Generation” on ABC, Noah Hawley, to the same time slot, and by the end of the day the two men were talking about meeting for drinks.

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“The Big Bang Theory” is CBS’s contender in the lucrative slot of Thursday night at 8.Credit
Robert Voets/Warner Bros

So began an unusually candid conversation — largely in public view — among the producers of all five shows on Thursday nights at 8 on the major broadcast networks. They avidly talk to their fans on Twitter, and from time to time they also talk to one another. In a brutal and often opaque business, their messages convey just how personal television can be for its creators.

He added, “It’s a beautiful thing that probably only Twitter can provide in this day and age, a reminder that there’s absolutely no reason for the creatives to have any animosity toward each other.”

Of course, since they are creatives, they enjoy poking fun at one another. Last Thursday the producer of “Bones,” on Fox, Hart Hanson, wrote to his counterparts: “I forgot to wish you good luck tonight! Or did I? Forget.”

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Hart Hanson of Fox’s “Bones.”Credit
Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Thursdays are exceptionally competitive for the networks. It is the second-costliest night of the week for advertisers, behind Sundays, according to Advertising Age, largely because movie studios, retailers, automotive dealers and others want to capture viewers’ attentions heading into the weekend. There have been legendary matchups on Thursdays, like when Fox placed “The Simpsons” against NBC’s reigning champ, “The Cosby Show,” in 1990. A few years later NBC coined the phrase “Must See TV” for its Thursday sitcoms like “Cheers” and “Friends.”

A little more than two weeks into this season “Community” and “The Big Bang Theory” are co-existing relatively peacefully. “Big Bang” has averaged 13.5 million viewers, a gain of 3 percent from last season, when it on Monday nights at 9:30; CBS said the show had exceeded its expectations. “Community” draws a much smaller audience — 4.8 million viewers so far this season. But NBC said it was satisfied with the ratings for the moment, and pointed to its particular strength among 18- to 34-year-olds, a particularly enticing demographic for movie advertisers.

Also at 8 p.m. “Bones” is up 6 percent, and “The Vampire Diaries,” on the CW, is down 8 percent over last season’s averages. Mr. Hawley’s “My Generation” was the loser in the closely watched competition, having been canceled by ABC on Friday after just two low-rated episodes.

The next day Mr. Hanson expressed his condolences to Mr. Hawley on Twitter. On the Web there is an obvious strain of sympathy among producers, something that Mr. Harmon learned after “Community” started in September 2009. At first, he recalled, he playfully disparaged “Bones” on Twitter, but Mr. Hanson “only ever responded with smiles and electronic hugs.”

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Dan Harmon of NBC’s “Community.”Credit
Matt Sayles/Associated Press

“He Buddha-ed me,” Mr. Harmon said.

The two men haven’t met in person, but Mr. Harmon’s mother is a big fan of “Bones,” so Mr. Hanson recently mailed her a box of DVDs and T-shirts.

Mr. Prady has largely remained above the fray of the producer chatter. He didn’t respond to Mr. Harmon’s welcome message in May, and in an interview he said he decided back then “not to have a conversation about the other shows that are on at 8.”

“I see no point in turning Twitter into professional wrestling prematch boasting,” he said, opting to use it to talk to fans instead.

But last week, when “Big Bang” fans asked Mr. Prady what he thought of Mr. Harmon and “Community,” he answered on Twitter, “Seems like a nice and funny guy.”

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Noah Hawley of ABC’s “My Generation.”Credit
Phil McCarten/REUTERS

Mr. Harmon shared that remark with his followers, along with a joke: “See? Assassins can have class.”

Kind words and commiseration about network TV life are one thing. Outright promotion of the competition is another. When Mr. Hanson of “Bones” wanted to tell Mr. Harmon how much he enjoyed “Community” last season, he did so through Twitter’s private messaging function, rather than sending it to him publicly.

“In a way Twitter is a direct injection into your fans, and I don’t want to confuse them,” Mr. Hanson said. “I don’t want them watching Dan’s show. I want them to watch my show.”

After reflecting for a moment, he added, “I don’t mind them DVR-ing Dan’s show.”

A version of this article appears in print on October 7, 2010, on Page C1 of the New York edition with the headline: Guarded Pals In a Critical TV Rivalry. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe